An interview with GM Wesley So

It was a special (or unique?) setting, particularly not the usual interview we see on TV.

As I've been saying it here over and over again, this kind of a phenomenon could be an interesting subject for a keen observer to investigate on.

There's only one interviewee and a 'barangay'of interviewers from different social, political, economic and even spiritual strata who beamed their questions from different parts of the world and who either said "Good morning," "Good afternoon," or Good evening" depending on which part of the globe they were in.

The questions varied from the most serious thing about chess, to personal matters, and even to the most trivial sorts of day-to-day living. Indeed it was as a masterpiece, a tapestry of colorful souls bonded only by shared imagined identities.

It wasn't just a real-time, live interview, but a very lively one at that, made possible by a common interest aided by technology.

That concept of 'barangay' [the smallest local government unit in Philipine setting] in this case is imaginary, which makes this phenomenon one of a kind. Called 'Barangay Wesley' whose members are composed mostly of Filipinos from different parts of the globe, this online group best symbolizes the global diasporic Filipinos who always link their identities to their imagined deterritorialized 'homeland'.

The unique interview took place in cyberspace (chessgames.com), with the interviewee (GM Wesley So) and the interviewers (BW members) located in different parts of planet Earth, with languages both understandable in the dominant culture and with other representations that only those in the resisting culture could derive meaning from.

In the context of globalization, online chess forums can serve as battlegrounds for the constant struggle for group identity. At Barangay Wesley, the quest for imagined global Filipino chess community is lived by BW members everyday. And as the dynamics within this virtual group continue to change over time, the diasporic Filipino chess lovers need to keep up with the corresponding challenges to keep the struggle for the imagined citizenship alive.

I have a PDF copy of the full interview. I'm a bit apprehensive, however, to post it here since some BW members, might crucify me for possibly exposing their hero's strengths and weaknesses. (The interview, nonetheless, is readily accessible at Wesley's page over chessgames.com, though you have to dig in the volume of pages.)

Anyway, this is my favorite part of the interview. A BW member asked GM So how he wants to be addressed. He simply replied: : "Wes or Wesley is good, with or without the GM."